My Ten Favorite TV Characters: Uncle Arthur (#2)

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I'm counting down my favorite characters from television series of years (okay, decades) past. It's getting close to the end, and for me, these last two characters are beyond legendary. #2: Uncle Arthur When I started this list I initially wrote Uncle Arthur's name down a little further down the list. As I actually thought about each character, I kept moving him up and up. The legacy of this character is evident in this "you're kidding!!!!" fact: out of 254 episodes of Bewitched, Uncle Arthur only appeared in ten episodes. Uncle Arthur was notorious for his entrances (in a toaster or a cooking pot on the stove) which always prompted niece Samantha to ask, "Uncle Arthur, what are you doing in there?" And her question always got a smart-aleck reply: "I thought I'd pop up and see you" (the toaster), "I'm a stew-away" (the pot), or "I've been framed!" (in the picture frame by the door). Equally notorious were his practical jokes. He liked "mortal" Darrin better than any of the other witches or warlocks that Samantha was related to, but that was mainly because Darrin was an easy foil for Arthur's pranks. My favorite appearance of Uncle Arthur (so brilliantly played by Paul Lynde) was in "Samantha's Power Failure," where the "Witches Council" decided to strip Sam, her cousin Serena (who was also played by Elizabeth Montgomery under the pseudonym "Pandora Spocks" [or "Pandora's box"]), Tabitha, and Arthur of their powers because of Sam's marriage to a "mortal." Poor Uncle Arthur couldn't get the hang of doing things the "normal" way, reading the instructions to light a match on the matchbook: "close cover before striking." He closed the cover and began hitting the matchbook. When a character only appears ten times and yet makes such a lasting impression on fans of the show -- or popular culture in general -- there's something special about him. And Uncle Arthur truly was something special. Uncle Arthur Portrayed by Paul Lynde From Bewitched ABC, 1965-1972 Here's a great montage of some of his better entrances for a MeTV ad: